Hampton University will face memorable non-conference foes

With an opening on his schedule and a hankering for an FBS (formerly I-A) opponent, Hampton University's football coach started asking around.

"I knew it had to be a good fit, and it had to be the right fit," he said. "We were texting and emailing and calling. We got a response back from Central Michigan, and I got excited."

So it is that Rose's Pirates, who went 5-6 last year in their first losing season since 1996, open the 2010 season on Thursday, Sept. 2 at Central Michigan, which went 12-2 last season, won the Mid-American championship and beat Troy in the GMAC Bowl to finish ranked No. 23 in the country by The Associated Press.

"We've never played a I-A team, but they're just like anyone else as far the approach," Rose said. "We want to go in there and be very competitive and just let it fly. There's no pressure."

Hampton running back Steve Robinson, far from feeling any heat, is instead drawing an interesting parallel.

"I know we can pull an upset, like Appalachian did to Michigan a few years back (in 2007)," Robinson said. "I'm thinking we can be that same team, (with) hard work and determination and focus."

HU quarterback David Legree, who transferred from Syracuse last season, won't be intimidated walking into 30,255-seat Kelly/Shorts Stadium in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

"That's what I'm used to," Legree said. "It's a good feeling to know we're going to be playing a Division I team. I'm just ready to go. We've got a lot of (transfers) that come from a Division I level. We try to enlighten people that haven't been there (about) what it's like, the atmosphere. We try to tell them what to expect."

The Pirates' 2010 schedule also includes another eye-catching non-conference opponent. HU takes on nearby rival Old Dominion, in its second year of FCS play, on Oct. 30 in the first game of a home-and-away series between the two teams.

The Monarchs, whose 9-2 record last year set an FCS start-up record, had an opening after a scheduled game with Georgetown fell through, and the matchup against HU was appealing on many levels, said ODU associate athletic director Bruce Stewart.

"It makes a lot of sense philosophically to look at institutions that are in our backyard," said Stewart, whose school will play Norfolk State, a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference member like Hampton, in 2013. "Those are institutions which this community certainly can recognize, and a lot of these student-athletes know each other. From that standpoint, it brings a natural rivalry that you just can't substitute."

Rose, a former HU player and an 18-year Pirates assistant coach, remembers packed houses when Hampton played William and Mary in the late 1990s, and hopes for similar crowds against ODU.

"That's good for recruiting, and I think it's good for Hampton Roads," Rose said.

Rose also thinks the opener at Central Michigan, with new coach Dan Enos at the helm, will be good for his team, regardless of the result.

"It lets you see where your program is. That'll be a good measuring stick for us," he said. " … I think we'll be able to match up as far as size, speed and things of that nature. It's just doing the little things. Against a team like that, you have to be disciplined and fundamentally sound and do what's asked of you.

" … There's not too many people that are going to pick us. That's fine. I've been in those shoes a lot. The team that prepares the best, the team that plays the best that day, is the team that wins."